# Gays can't get "Knocked Up," so they shouldn't be allowed to marry. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 29, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723 "2013-01-29T17:44:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/61 "2013-01-30T17:19:16Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I think we were talking about people marrying their pets. Well, you can’t get your dog pregnant, so there’s no need. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/62 "2013-01-30T17:40:49Z")
> [@lance\_strongarm](#): > > Well, you can’t get your dog pregnant, so there’s no need. So sad we banned all the idiots who would come in saying “But what if you could?” and completely derail the conversation. It would be more entertaining than Bricker. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/63 "2013-01-30T17:57:35Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Fine, the legal concept of “rational basis” need not involve rationality in the common use of the word. I propose the common application be called “reasonable basis”, hopefully sparing us further prevarication and tangents. This proposed law has no reasonable basis. It _may_ have a rational basis, if a court says it does. “Reasonable” opens an even more yawning chasm between the technical and normally understood definitions of the word. I proposed “rationalized basis” – the arguments advanced as points of law are often, as in this case, textbook examples of the common plain-English understanding of the words “rationalize”, “rationalized”, and “rationalization”. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/64 "2013-01-30T17:59:42Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > “Reasonable” opens an even more yawning chasm between the technical and normally understood definitions of the word. > > I proposed “rationalized basis” – the arguments advanced as points of law are often, as in this case, textbook examples of the common plain-English understanding of the words “rationalize”, “rationalized”, and “rationalization”. That’s reasonable. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/65 "2013-01-30T17:59:59Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The complaints in this thread mirror almost every thread that raises these complains. In other news, a 500-pound patient suffering from joint problems and shortness of breath was heard to complain that the eleventh doctor he’d seen told him to eat less and exercise more, just like the first ten. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/66 "2013-01-30T18:00:02Z")
That’s pretty clever, actually. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/67 "2013-01-30T18:05:38Z")
The line between clothahump and bricker blurs more and more every day. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/68 "2013-01-30T18:08:30Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > That’s pretty clever, actually. I was referring to “rationalized basis”. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/69 "2013-01-30T18:13:25Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > In other news, a 500-pound patient suffering from joint problems and shortness of breath was heard to complain that the eleventh doctor he’d seen told him to eat less and exercise more, just like the first ten. I’d have a hard time taking health advice from someone who only eats fish fingers with custard myself. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/70 "2013-01-30T18:36:53Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Sexual orientation has been found to be a quasi protected classification. Rational basis does not apply. Well, yes, it has. But it also has been found to NOT be a quasi-protected classification, and subject to rational basis. For myself, as a federal district judge, I think I’d find as a matter of first impression that sexual orientation triggered intermediate scrutiny. But if I were in, say, the Seventh Circuit, then I couldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/71 "2013-01-30T18:44:42Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > I’d have a hard time taking health advice from someone who only eats fish fingers with custard myself. You’d expect him to be twice as careful about a heart-healthy diet, wouldn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/72 "2013-01-30T18:48:04Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Not according to the Second Circuit in Windsor V United States. And I agree with their reasoning. But of course their decision conflicts with Massachusetts v. US Department of Health & Human Services, 682 F. 3d 1 (1st Cir. 2012). > [@](#): > > Second, to create such a new suspect classification for same-sex relationships would have far-reaching implications — in particular, by implying an overruling of Baker, which we are neither empowered to do nor willing to predict. Nothing indicates that the Supreme Court is about to adopt this new suspect classification when it conspicuously failed to do so in Romer — a case that could readily have been disposed by such a demarche. That such a classification could overturn marriage laws in a huge majority of individual states underscores the implications. And of course it conflicts with Supreme Court precedent in the matter of Baker v. Nelson. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/73 "2013-01-30T18:57:15Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Well, yes, it has. But it also has been found to NOT be a quasi-protected classification, and subject to rational basis. > > For myself, as a federal district judge, I think I’d find as a matter of first impression that sexual orientation triggered intermediate scrutiny. But if I were in, say, the Seventh Circuit, then I couldn’t. So then your repetition six times of the mantra invoking rational basis analysis seems like even greater pompous-ass legal pettifoggery than before. I hesitate to say that you’ve outdone yourself, but I do suspect your pedantry, or indeed your pompous pedantic pettifoggery, is boundless. Puerile and pusillanimous to boot. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/74 "2013-01-30T19:08:58Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > So then your repetition six times of the mantra invoking rational basis analysis seems like even greater pompous-ass legal pettifoggery than before. I hesitate to say that you’ve outdone yourself, but I do suspect your pedantry, or indeed your pompous pedantic pettifoggery, is boundless. Puerile and pusillanimous to boot. Those ridiculous comparisons wouldn’t be required under intermediate scrutiny, either. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/75 "2013-01-30T19:16:02Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Those ridiculous comparisons wouldn’t be required under intermediate scrutiny, either. You’re perseverative as well. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/76 "2013-01-30T19:22:48Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > You’re perseverative as well. Like methylchloroisothiazolinone, I am. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/77 "2013-01-30T19:27:46Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Like methylchloroisothiazolinone, I am. I believe that’s a preservative. Being a preservative is different than the quality of being perserverative. I’m hopeful that this is some kind of Brick-joke. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/78 "2013-01-30T19:42:58Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > I believe that’s a preservative. > > Being a preservative is different than the quality of being perserverative. I’m hopeful that this is some kind of Brick-joke. Not a joke, exactly, but an illustration. See, I was apparently completely clueless that “perserverative” was a different thing than “preservative.” And that meant that my attempt to make a witty, urbane comment to show what I knew fell flat, as opposed to being witty or urbane. Because my obvious ignorance of the basic information completely undercuts any attempt at humor or insight. Right? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/79 "2013-01-30T19:51:32Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Not a joke, exactly, but an illustration. See, I was apparently completely clueless that “perserverative” was a different thing than “preservative.” And that meant that my attempt to make a witty, urbane comment to show what I knew fell flat, as opposed to being witty or urbane. Because my obvious ignorance of the basic information completely undercuts any attempt at humor or insight. > > Right? No, I actually found it funny. I’m just so unaccustomed to being amused by anything you say that I experienced the sense that something was wrong. It’s not you, it’s me. ---
**Author:** ![lance\_strongarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lance\_strongarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lance_strongarm)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723/80 "2013-01-30T20:19:40Z")
Wow, some people are masters at wasting their own, and everyone else’s, time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-cant-get-knocked-up-so-they-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-marry/648723.md?page=5)